Update from Kokstad, KZN

Kokstad, kokstad, kokstad. Sibongile and I arrived on Sunday the 11^th of September 2011. I was looking forward to this Njabulo Residency for a couple of reasons. One being the fact that it was my second residency programme and I was the project leader. Scarrry! Second being the fact that I was going to speak my language isiXhosa. It’s been a long time since I spoke my home language as I am now a resident of KwaZulu Natal.

Monday morning the 12^th we drove to Khanyiselani our partnering organisation. The reception we got was not that great but anyway we were there for the community. The guardians were informed to come to the centre at 9am. We felt that this time slot was too early so we intended to change it to a later slot. I still don’t know if this helped or it caused more damage. The centre provided us with their conference room for the duration of our residency. The conference room was small but it was better than being outdoors!

Our day began and it was a shock to discover that out of 20 guardians only two were present and it 9:30am. We then requested the list that was drafted by Khanyiselani. Some of the care workers helped to locate these guardians. By 10:30 we had seven guardians and two care workers. The look of astonishment on the guardian’s faces when we told them we were there to play with them was priceless. But because they actually laughed, gave us hope of their participation.

We hoped for a better attendance in the afternoon with the children. Ha! Most of the children who arrive are not even part of the programme. The organisation had selected children from three different schools. After much deliberation between myself, Sbongile and the care workers we decided to carry on with the session. We asked the children to tell their parents to attend on Tuesday morning. The care workers were also to go door to door informing the guardians about the programme. Our first session with the children was filled with games because we wanted to see which of the guardians would attend on Tuesday.

 And indeed, Tuesday was better – though not by much. Once again the guardians were late even though we had changed the time slot to 10am. But the session went well with the guardians. The children were all present. In total we had 16 children. With the guardians the numbers were still not confirmed.

Well, we had to accept that late coming was going to be the order of the day with the guardians. The nice thing though was that they were open to participating in the activities and during the home practice reflection they shared a lot. The numbers of attendance were not steady but with those who were present we had fun.

The sock monkeys were heroes on Friday. Why? The thing is we told the guardians on Thursday that we had a gift for them on Friday and if they are late they will miss out. Guess what? By the time we arrived at the centre they were all present. We, on the other side we were five minutes late. The day was amazing. With the children everything was going accordingly. Even though the week had its ups and downs it was productive. Both groups are beginning to make important connections with each other and discoveries of new relationships at home. Looking forward to week two!

Day 6 started on a slow note with only five guardians and two care workers. Well since it was very cold that day, we assumed that it was the cold that kept them away. Session six continued as planned though and those who were present were happy with the day. The home practice discussion was full of positive comments. One of the guardians by the name of Liemiso was literally glowing when she shared.  She described her events of the weekend and how she played with the children and did the exercises with the children and played games. “It was the first time the children stayed home and did not go to play in the streets. I was so happy. We even forgot to watch TV and we never realised it.”  It was amazing to hear and I for was happy for her.

We accepted that attendance was not going to improve but we did not let that get us down. As the week progressed there was a noticeable change to some guardians. Those who hardly shared during reflection sessions started to open up. This was a beautiful thing to witness. “When we played sock monkey with my son, he said “mama are you going to shot at sock monkey like you shout at me?” This truly broke my heart because I was not aware of how sad and angry it makes him.” These were Victoria’s words. Session eight was amazing to observe as the guardians were finalizing their stories for the family day. They were so happy and full of play. I must mention that one of the guardians brought a friend along and she carried on coming even though she did not have a child who in the group. What was amazing about this was that one of the days she was writing exams and she came through the door panting in her school uniform. We didn’t even know that she was a scholar. When we talked later she said she ran all the way from school and she was praying along the way that she does not miss the session completely.  “It’s nice to feel the love” she said.

The children were punctual as usual. The putting together of the children of wax was nice even though it was a bit stressful. The children struggled to memorise their lines even though we started learning lines on Tuesday.  But a little patience was all that was required because the children showed their commitment and excitement was evident. These children were so violent with each other when we started but on the last days there were more relaxed and less violent which was good to see. The drawings of the children of wax were absolutely beautiful and the children were happy to see them on display during family day.

I’ve got to mention our cook. One funny character that aunty was. The day she started to cook for us she used three quarters of the 10 kg rice. If Sbo hadn’t gone to check on her I have no idea how it was going to turn out.  I absolutely lost for words. Sometimes she burnt the food and she said her sense of smell was not at all good. She was but a nice woman who had limited cooking skills and she appreciated the opportunity of earning some money. She said she was going to buy herself a cell phone so she can be like the other women.  It was so humbling to hear.

The family day went well.  There were guests who came to see the function. They were invited by the guardians and the children. We use the small venue we were using during our time here in Kokstad. The reason for this was because we wanted to create some sort of intimacy with all that were present. It was nice to see the strange face of the organization leaders who had not bothered to come see what we were doing from day one. The day kicked off with everyone doing the warm up and playing games. It was fun and filled with giggles. The performances were nice both the children of wax and the hero’s journey.  One could clearly see the joy on the guardian’s faces when they saw their children performing likewise with the children.  It was an awesome day with lots and lots of love in the air.

On the last day of the residency it was sad as usual. The joy of receiving certificates was evident to everyone. It’s been a challenging but lovely journey with this little crowd.

- Sussie Mjwara, 23 September 2011

Many thanks to the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and Europcar for making this project possible!